"Powerful new evidence about the ability of vitamin D to stem a wide range of diseases has brought the prospect of a nationwide programme to prescribe it in Scotland as a dietary supplement significantly closer.

Reports at the weekend suggested that experts were increasingly convinced that the so-called sunshine drug - whose significance was first revealed in detail by The Times last year - could make a difference to the country's appalling health record.

New research suggests that high doses of vitamin D could dramatically cut the relapse rate in people with multiple sclerosis. According to scientists in Canada, more than a third of sufferers taking high levels of supplement